All set for a massive weekend at “Big Sandy”

Speaker’s Corner looks set to face the sternest examination so far this season as he takes on West Coast star Flightline in a hugely anticipated renewal of the G1 Metropolitan Handicap at Belmont Park on Saturday.

Unbeaten in three starts in 2022, Speaker’s Corner heads into the “Met Mile” following a dominant victory in the G1 Carter Handicap at Aqueduct in April.

Flightline himself has yet to taste defeat in three career appearances, setting up a mouthwatering clash in the race famously won in record-breaking fashion by Frosted in 2016.

“Big Sandy” hosts a mammoth eight G1 races on Saturday, including the Belmont Stakes, and two more of Godolphin’s leading lights of 2022 may run on the same card.

Santin will look for back-to-back G1 wins in the Manhattan Stakes following a resolute display in the Turf Classic on the Kentucky Derby undercard.

Matareya scored at Churchill Downs on her latest start as well, easily taking the G2 Eight Belles Stakes, and the three-year-old filly could aim for a fourth straight victory in the G1 Acorn Stakes.

New York is also on the radar for Modern Games, who ran a brave race in defeat when coming home third in Sunday’s G1 Prix du Jockey Club. Last season’s G1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf hero is pencilled in for a return to the United States, with potential options of the Belmont Derby and Saratoga Derby.

Life In Motion ran an excellent race on the same Chantilly fixture as she finished second in the G2 Prix de Sandringham, while Modern Games’ half-brother Modern News filled the runner-up spot in the G3 Diomed Stakes on Derby Day at Epsom Downs.

In Australia, rapidly improving three-year-old Athelric recorded a fourth straight win when coming out on top in the Listed Queensland Day Stakes at Eagle Farm. The emerging sprinter could have one more start in Brisbane before being aimed at some ambitious targets at Sydney and Melbourne later in the year.